BBC questions...

[Dan]

I am trading some stuff for a 454 that will go in my Impala which will give up its small block for the A coupe. Never had a BBC, before. Anyone give me any "recipes" for a strong street motor?? Dont know anything about it except that it has the oval port heads and I cant afford aftermarket heads - what combos exist to make good power with these?? Thanks-

[colorado51]

[ QUOTE ]
I am trading some stuff for a 454 that will go in my Impala. Never had a BBC, before. Anyone give me any "recipes" for a strong street motor?? Dont know anything about it except that it has the oval port heads and I cant afford aftermarket heads - what combos exist to make good power with these?? Thanks-

[/ QUOTE ]

What year is the 454?

Kinda depends which oval port heads too. Check the head castings, you really want to look for –781 or –049 heads, they are about the best STOCK heads to have for the street.

The key is to get that motor to breath!

Large tube headers.
A good dual plane intake.
781 or 049 heads.
A Holley 750 cfm carb (3310)
A hotter ignition
A cam for “low end” power/torque (1500-5500).

[38Chevy454]

Ovsl ports are fine, the truck peanut ports suck. Rectangular ports are overkill for the street. Like said in the previous post, the 781 or 049 heads are the best oval ports, but you can make good powewr with almost any oval port head that your engine has.

I will submit my suggstions, a bit more on the performance side:
Keep it low compression so you can run on pump gas.
Mild porting in the valve bowl is all you need, with a good valve job on the heads.
Headers no bigger than 1.75 inch primaries.
750 or 850 mech secondary carb on a good alum intake, either dual plane or single plenum.
Cam with about 230-235 degrees at .050 (advertised approx 290 degrees), this is pretty healthy, but you can't really kill a 454 low-end torque.
Good HEI is fine for ignition.
Slightly looser torque converter, like a 2500-3000 max stall

Keep the revs to below 6000 and the stock bottom end will live. Have fun.

[Dan]

I will need to find out what year and what heads - really looking forward to getting it. As the car hardly ever gets driven I am thinking of maybe building a mild bracket car out of it, would still like to be able to drive it on the street though-

[colorado51]

Once you get it, check here (www.mortec.com) to see what you have.

[Dreamweaver]

As others have said the oval ports will make more torque than you can ever use.

I'll pm you with 2 recipes that I have gleamed from the forums on chevelle.com, those guys know how to make bbc run.

[Hellbilly_Buzzard]

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB1&Number=411435&fpart=& PHPSESSID=

[Dan]

found an edelbrock torker II on ebay, is this a decent street manifold or should I stay away from single plane?

[Dan]

'nuther question, what about soli vs. hydraulic cam?? Most all the BBC info I have is from magazines 20 years ago - what in new or different since then??

[38Chevy454]

Torker II will work fine, improved version of the original torker. The new hydraulic performance cams are the way to go, unless you really like the sound and to adjust the solids. Solids are good for high rpm, but your engine will not need that. Most performance cams will need at least new long slot rockers, roller tip would be nice, but I suggest spend a few extra bucks and get some of the cheap full roller rockers and you will have a great valvetrain. Look for used ones, might get some nice and cheap. The new cam will need matching springs to go with the higher lift. Hydraulic will hold fine to 6000 rpm.

If you are building more for drag racing and higher rpms, then go big on the cam and big on the carb, at least 850. Run a carb spacer (if you have the room) with four-hole design, it seems to help on most big block applications. Drag race can also use rectangular port heads without the sacrifice for street, but you can get legit 500 hp out of oval ports and good performance hydraulic cam.

[Dan]

quite a few suggestions have recommended some minor port and polish work, I am a total novice in this area. Did some research on the net and found some info. on
www.sa-motorsports.com (http://www.sa-motorsports.com) that seems pretty good. Is this site a good reference or should I look elsewhere? thanks for all the help so far!